Planning a trip to Southern France...
 

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to pick your brains! I'm planning a trip to Southern France. We're flying into somewhere around Bergerac, Carcassone, Nimes, that general area. Is there any advice you could give me on a good itinerary? We're going to be there from 6/21-7/1. Also--if you have any tips on accomodations, can't misses, etc...I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Many, many, thanks in advance,
Priscilla

Your best bet is to get the Michelin Green Guide to Provence, which contains a wealth of information on sightseeing and suggested itineraries. Once you've decided somewhat on what you want to see and where you want to say, return here with specific questions--it's really hard for us to make recommendations without knowing your preferences.

BTW, Bergerac is not near Carcassone and Nimes; it's up north.

The first advice is to confirm where you will be arriving. The airports you list are hundreds of kilmetres apart - they are not in any 'general area.' It would take you about 5-6 hours on the autoroute to get from Bergerac to Nimes.

And none of these destinations is in Provence -- though Nimes is close. Southern France is quite large. The OP needs to tell us where she is interested in travelling.

The OP didn't say she wanted to travel in Provence, and that wouldn't be the best Michelin guide for that area.

I have enough trouble with my own itineraries, actually, but will say that I liked Narbonne very much, and stayed in Montpellier a few days while I toured around that area. I really liked that city, also, and it's a good size so has some decent hotels, restaurants, nightlife, and good train transportation to other areas.

I think Michelin does some itineraries and driving routes very well in their guides (maps in the front), so would recommend you look at one. The Cadogan guide to southern France is also good (I use both), and covers Provence and the west all the way to Spain. I don't know if you'll have a car or want to just drive, but you can visit Nimes, Arles, Narbonne, and even Caracassonne easily by train from Montpellier for day trips. I don't think any is longer than 2 hrs away. Plus Avignon. Now Bergerac is just east of Bordeaux a bit, in Dordogne reason. I think it's probably too far to combine very well with the other areas, but you could.

You could fly into Toulouse, visit there a bit, then to Caracassonne and along the coast through Narbonne to Montpellier and Nimes. You could end up in Avignon or fly out of Marseille easily. That's one route.

sorry about the typos, by fingers are typing too fast -- I meant Dordogne region.

I just got the 2006 cardogan guide to Languedoc-roussillon from the library and I think it would give you some great ideas on where to go in that region. I agree that to give better advice, we need to know what airport, likes and dislikes. Good luck!

sawei, this is one of out regular posters who lives in the South of France. His site should be of help.

http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/

In addition to the Languedoc Pages link noted above, I found these two links very help for an overview of places to see, things to do, etc.:

www.creme-de-languedoc.com
http://ourhouseinfrance.com

Hi

just worth noting :

Bergerac is not South of France !

BA & Ryanair also go into Montpellier

Other flight routes : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/to...ourism-air.htm

Languedoc hotels : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/to...ngs-hotels.htm

There is an Ibis in central Montpellier

Montpellier is a good base for South France from Spain to Provence. It is too far for day trips to Cote d'Azur

Peter

Hey there Priscilla -- so are you going to Southern Spain or Southern France from 6/21-7/1??? Looks like you've posted for both locations with very similar language about "flying in somewhere around [two different cities] . . . ."

Let us know when you make up your mind -- there are lots of people on this board with tremendous amounts of knowledge and experience, but it's not really fair to ask someone to develop an itinerary for you when you haven't finalized your plans.

If you are trying to decide between the two you might check some guidebooks out of the library (DK/Eyewitness book have great photos) and/or rent some travel videos about the two areas to give yourself a better idea of what will suit you best.

(Yes, this is a duplicate of my post to your question about Southern Spain, but I think you can see why.)

Hi All,

Sorry for the mass confusion I've caused on the board. Yes, I'm going to be in Europe for about a week and had two fare deals--one to Southern France and one to Southern Spain. I was basically trying to decide btwn the two which was why I posted twice. I have read up on both and they both sounded wonderful so I wanted to see if it was possible to do both for a few days but having rushed around on many a vacation (I did three big cities in Italy in a week) I'd rather not do that this time around. I've settled on France--I'm sorry I wasn't specific enough but I kept getting sidetracked. Once I decided to travel around Provence a friend tells me I must go to the Lourve Valley or the Languedoc region. I picked up the 2006 Cardogan guide to Languedoc-Roussillon and the Rough Guide to Dourdogne and will figure out what sounds best. Thanks for all your advice everyone.

Good for you! And you made the right call on not trying to see both southern France and southern Spain (at least on the same trip!)

Hopefully with your books and some of the links listed above you will get some good ideas. You might want to have a peek at the Eyewitness guides -- they are so visual and I find that helpful.

Peter's website (above) is wonderful and the other ones I mentioned above are helpful too. We're going to Languedoc in September, so I've been doing some digging. "Creme" is focused on property listing, but has some handy lists of top beaches, villages, things to do with kids, etc.

We are renting a gite (house) for a week to use as a "base camp" to day trip out of. Depending on how many of you are going, it can be a very reasonable option.

If you decide on Languedoc, I found these links on gites helpful: france4families.com, http://www.holiday-rentals.com/Franc...illon/r351.htm, and http://www.languedocfrance.com/index.html

Have fun planning!

Thank you so much Molloy for understanding! I always make the same mistakes when I post here in being too general and get yelled at viciously for it. Lol. It's part of the experience though--we just don't have enough time to see everything we want to see so we wind up asking general questions like, "Any advice?" All this from a seasoned traveler too--the horror! Anyway, I'll make sure to post a trip report before your Sept journey in case I find any small out-of-the-way-but-completely-worthy sites. Just wanted to note, I bought MICHELIN CHARMING PLACES TO STAY: 1000 HOTELS AND GUESTHOUSES IN FRANCE 2006 and it's been a great resource. Also, I've been trolling the Association of Most Beautiful Villages in France site. Also handy for planning those driving days.

http://translate.google.com/translat...rance.free.fr/

and

http://www.beyond.fr/villages/idxplusbeaux.html

Thanks again!

Hi! Just came back from Carcassone yesterday. Had a great time.

We stayed in a Gite call Aupontromain. It's about less than 1/2 hr drive from Carcassone & you will need a car. The gite is beautiful & it has a pool shared by 3 other gites but we only saw one couple there once in all the time we were there. The owners Su & Andy were very helpful & hospitable. We had fresh bread delivered to us every morning. The gite is by a small river with a view of the mountains. Very quiet & peaceful. We had two BBQs there & it was great relaxing with a bottle of wine or two! This is their website - http://www.aupontromain.com/

Not sure if it is what you want but they cater for different sizes of parties. We stayed in La Rivirie for 6 people. I was a bit worried initially that it was too small as pixs looked a bit small was it was fine. Pixs on the website did not do the place justice.

We did not do too much on our hols as I have a 7 month old baby & 2 elderly relative. Manage to see Carcassone - La Cite, Lourdes, Minerve & a beach.

Let me know if you have any questions.

We were in the Languedoc in late March. I have a photo album of our trip, along with brief comments, at:
http://rozault.com/languedoc

There is also a link from the photo album to a blog of our trip.

I must say that Montpellier did not do much for us, but of course that is a matter of personal preference. It just seemed lacking in the beauty and charm we found in so many other places. I think it may be a good city to live in, but as tourists, we didn't find it particularly attractive.

We loved Nimes, however. For the first part of our trip we stayed in a B&B about 30 km away from Nimes, and then in a gite about the same distance south of Carcassonne. You can find links to them in my photo album.

I just returned from Dordogne and I stayed in Beynac which is central to everything. I stayed at the Residence Versailles, which is a French owned Chambre d'hote, many of the COH are run by Brits in that area. The proprietors are very lovely and the place is clean and comfortable.

Some must sees are Rocamadour, St. Christope and down the ways from that is a lovely village calle St. Leon sur Vezere. That whole region is a must see. I must say I was not impressed with Sarlat and Domme was ok, you would do better climbing Rocamadour.

I know you will enjoy it. I'm already planning to return in the fall.

nonnafelice - most excellent photos. It's all in those little details that you captured. I'm sending this link to my friends who will be going to France for the first time next year.

nonnafelice

I'd be happy to add some of your photos to The Languedoc Page with links back to your blog.

Peter

Thanks for your photos Nonnafelice (does that mean Happy Grandma?)! We're headed to the Languedoc region in September and, as if my appetite has not been whetted enough, your photos only increased our excitement for the trip! Excellent shots.